Trump panel wants to give USPS right to hike prices for Amazon, others at Reuters. “None of our findings or recommendations relate to any one company,” a senior administration official said on Tuesday.”Read more

…Morgan Stanley estimates that Amazon relies on the Postal Service to deliver up to 45% of its packages by John. D. McKinnon & Paul Ziobro at Wall Street Journal.WSJ subs.

How Dick’s Sporting Goods Decided to Change Its Gun Policy by Sarah Nassauer at Wall Street Journal. “Sixty-two employees quit in protest, said Mr. Stack, fewer than he anticipated…After the February announcement, one store worker who resigned (told) Fox News, “I respect the company, but based on this stance, I just can’t go any longer,” said Mr. Stack. “If this young man ever wants to come back to the company, you hire him back in a second,” Mr. Stack said he had told his human resources department.”WSJ subs.

Walmart employees can now complete online orders for in-store customers seeking sold out items by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Customers could always whip out their own smartphones and basically complete this process themselves. But the new app creates an official pipeline for employees to take advantage of the company’s vast inventory to quickly backfill sold out items.”Read more

EBay will now authenticate luxury jewelry items by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “Initially, eBay was only focused on handbags from high-end brands…In September 2018, however, it expanded the program to authenticate luxury watches as well…The company says the decision to move into jewelry was the logical next step.”Read more

Nike Names Heidi O’Neill To An Expanded Role As President of Nike DirectPress release

Massive ground beef recall expands to more than 12 million pounds at USA Today. “The 12.1 million pounds of raw beef products including ground beef were produced between July 26 and Sept. 7 by JBS USA at its JBS Tolleson, Inc., processing plant in Tolleson, Arizona.”Read more

Alibaba to open first e-commerce trade hub in Europe at CNBC. “Alibaba struck a partnership with the Belgian government on Wednesday to create a trade hub that will help companies in the country to sell products abroad.”Read more

All the space department stores take up could build 350 malls at CNBC.Read more

Samsung just became the world’s spendiest advertiser, bypassing Procter & Gamble at TechCrunch. “Others in the tech world to dominate AdAge’s tally include Alphabet, Netflix and Amazon, which reportedly boosted their 2017 spending by 32 percent, 29 percent and 26 percent, respectively.”Read more

How the Longaberger basket empire slowly unraveled after 2000 peak by Kent Mallett at Newark Advocate via USA Today. “During the ensuing 18 months of surgeries, chemotherapy and experimental treatment, there was no course set for what to do if (founder Dave Longaberger) died, Stukey said. …”We all thought we had decades to deal with the notion of him being gone. There was no previous succession plan or even a transition phase for the business.”Read more

Pizza Hut has agreed to acquire QuikOrder, an online ordering software and service provider at CNBC.Read more

“PAUSE-VERTISING” – TV’s Next Commercial Break Might Be the Pause in Your Binge by Brian Steinberg at Variety. “…it’s natural they are going to want to pause,” says Jeremy Helfand, vice president and head of advertising platforms for Hulu, speaking of modern-day couch potatoes. Hulu intends to unveil what it calls “pause ads” in 2019…AT&T expects to launch technology next year that puts a full-motion video on a screen when a user decides to take a respite.”Read more